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GazerRise Fantastic!

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Bonehead-XL William Girdler is an odd case of a competent filmmaker who even showed a stylish visual sense from time to time. Yet most of his films are terrible. This isn't a case of a spectacularly untalented filmmaker accidentally making outsider art, like Andy Milligan or Ed Wood. Girdler was consistently, quite nearly a good director. Odds are, if he had lived longer, he would have actually developed talent. With "The Manitou" he graduated from the world of low-budget genre rip-offs to the world of slightly higher budget genre rip-offs. "Grizzly" was "Jaws" with a bear. "Abby" was "The Exorcist" with (offensively stereotypical) black people. "The Manitou" is also "The Exorcist" but with Indian mysticism and bits of "Star Wars" thrown in for phone.Based off a novel by hack horror author and sex manual writer Graham Masterton, the movie begins when Susan Strasberg discovers she has a thing in her neck. At first, it appears to be a tumor. As the growth continues to, uh, grow, baffled scientist realizes a fetus is developing inside her neck. Attempts to remove the growth results in disaster. Strasberg's friend Tony Curtis, a phony medium, soon discovers that the tumor is actually the reborn spirit of an ancient, evil Indian shaman. Once the spirit reaches maturity and enters our world, things gets craaaaazy."The Manitou" escalates in ridiculousness as it goes on. This is impressive, considering the movie begins with an Indian shaman being reborn through a tumor on a lady's neck. First off, it cast an aging Tony Curtis as a romantic league, in a relationship with the noticeably younger Susan Strasberg. Wearing a succession of unflattering tight shirts, Curtis cons old ladies with chicanery so hackneyed and obvious only a delusional old lady would believe it. The first sign that "The Manitou" will be rife with unintentional hilarity is when one of Curtis' elderly clients begins to chant in ancient languages and float inches above the floor to her death. The second big laugh comes when Curtis' hippy-dippy friends make the top of the villain's head appear. Just the top. When a surgical laser goes ballistics, the audience is far more likely to laugh then scream. Everything in "The Manitou" is pitched at a hysterical level.About an hour in, "The Manitou" leaps from campy to goofy. A greasy-haired, dark skinned dwarf crawls out of Strasberg's back. The character's attempts to fight him off prove unsuccessful. The reborn shaman summons an evil spirit, which is shown by having an actor in an unconvincing giant lizard costume slither around on the floor. He freezes the entire floor of the hospital, including the present staff. Tony tosses a typewriter at the little person, which melodramatically explodes. (Because everything, even man-made objects, has manitous, you see.) This prompts the Manitou to toss decapitated heads, snow, and wind at the heroes. In its last ten minutes, "The Manitou" completely looses its mind. Curtis and his ethnic Indian friend open a doorway to outer space. Electric energy shoots through the hospital and explodes a doctor while Misquamacus laughs uproariously. A giant eyeball floats behind them, shooting beams of light and asteroids at everyone. The naked Strasberg rises from her bed, shoots lasers out of her hands, and beats the evil back. This is the kind of wacked out, hilarious imagery only seen in seventies B-flicks. God bless 'em.Despite its unforgettable moments, much of "The Manitou" drags. Really, up until the last half-hour, the film is massively boring. Curtis slums about, disinterested. Strasberg spends most of the story bed-ridden. The sleuthing and studying of American Indian spiritualism mostly amounts to people sitting around and talking. Only Burgess Meredith's amusingly kooky cameo enlivens this portion of the film. Even then, Meredith delivers dialogue about the Indian population that is fairly offensive. Also offensive: The film's resident stereotypical medicine man character who is played by Michael Ansara who was, of course, Syrian. Heck, even the evil Misquamacus is played by an Italian, short actor Felix Silla. Honestly, if you fast-forward until the latter section of the film, you wouldn't be missing much.There's very little intentionally good about "The Manitou." Lalo Schifrin's score is decent, incorporating traditional tribal music in with his usual action style. Michel Hugo's cinematography is quite lovely. While the digital effects are laughable, the practical effects actually aren't bad. Though the images Girdler presents on screen are absurd, there's no denying the guy had a flare for the dramatic. You're unlikely to forget "The Manitou," or at least parts of it anyway. Bad movie lovers should check it out, for sure.

preppy-3 Karen Tandy (Susan Strasberg) finds a lump growing in the back of her neck. It turns out to be a fetus of a 400 year old medicine man waiting to be reborn! (Seriously!) She gets old boyfriend Harry Erskine (Tony Curtis) to help. He gets John Singing Rock (Michael Ansara) a modern age medicine man to help him battle it.I read the book this was based on in 1978. The book is fun, silly, well-written and gory. The movie is fairly faithful to the book but what works as a story sure as hell doesn't transfer to the screen well! For starters it has a LOUD overbearing music score at the beginning which doesn't fit the movie and almost drowns out all the dialogue! On the other hand that's a good thing because the dialogue here is truly horrible--full of stupid lines that are made all the funnier by the actors saying it straight-faced. On the positive side some of the special effects are actually pretty decent--especially for a 1978 film. At the end things go REALLY out of control with a nude Strasberg floating in outer space zapping at the villain with rays from her hands! (Don't ask). Also the acting is pretty good. Curtis is just OK but Strasberg is good and Stella Stevens, Ann Sothern and Burgess Meredith throw in strong performances in small roles. Basically this is another movie so bad it's good but not bad enough to be REAL good. Still, it has its moments.

lost-in-limbo They don't come anymore peculiar than William Girdler's infamous (and final) large-scale supernatural horror "The Manitou", but I did come away expecting a little more from it then what eventuated. Its big name cast seems to come across as a distraction, as there are plenty of bit parts for actors like Jon Cedar, Stella Stevens, Ann Sothern, Paul Mantee and Burgess Meredith. Then you have Tony Curtis and Michael Ansara making their presences known. Two different styles, but they work together quite well. Curtis is a charismatic live-wire, while Ansara keeps it down-to-earth. Also caught in the middle of it all is the lovable Susan Strasberg.Karen Tandy has a lump on the back of her shoulder, which the doctors believe to be a tumour that has a striking resemblance to a fetus. It's growing at an abnormally fast rate and the doctors can't give her former lover and fraud tarot reader Harry Erskine an answer to what's happening. There he learns that she has been possessed by a 400-year old Native American medicine man, so he goes looking for help and finds it in modern-day medicine man John Singing Rock.The premise (adapted from Graham Masterton's novel) does kind of have "The Exorcist" feel to it, but definitely a lot more out-there and over-the-top. As science (modern technology) goes up against spirituality (Indian folklore), to see which medicine comes up on top. There's nothing particularly skin-crawling about it, as it seamlessly turns silly. Really silly. That it might have you laughing with its ridiculous developments and hokey effects (mainly in the latter end with the light-show). Despite the eccentric nature which unfolds and the surreal visual jolts (the birth scene!) that formulate, everyone manages to keep a straight-face. Hard, but it's true. Girdler does seem to struggle to balance out the tone, where it goes between seriously dark and colourfully camp (which also could be seen in Curtis' performance), but his handling is sure-footed and San Francisco made for a picturesque backdrop."The Manitou" is far from perfect, but quite a simple horror shocker curiosity."We have created a monster!"

Vomitron_G I'm starting to really like William Girdler and I'm eager to check out more of his films. After having immensely enjoyed his "JAWS With Claws" feature GRIZZLY, next up on my plate was this insanely amusing ride into suspenseful senility. THE MANITOU is as crazy as, let's say, Uli Lommel's THE BOOGEYMAN, but it's also a better, more entertaining movie. A girl grows a tumor on her back which is in fact the reincarnation of an ancient evil Indian medicine man. We get: A spooky séance, possession, Indian mumbo-jumbo, Manitou machine spirits, an exploding body and a hole hospital that turns into a hellish frozen inferno of cosmic proportions near the end with a topless Susan Strasberg floating on a bed in space. Totally bonkers, baby! And that midget Manitou creep looked evil as *beep*. Throw your sense of logic out the window and come fly with this spirited B-movie of an epic grandeur unlike others.